124. First Sunday in Lent. I.
Lord, our God, lead us into the strong fortress of thy word. Amen.
Gospel Lesson, Matthew 4, 1-11. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
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As soon as Jesus was baptized to be our Savior, the devil sought to strike him down. Then begins the struggle on the outcome of which depends the ownership of our souls. The Son of God could not fall; but in the mists of temptation this is hid from his eyes, and he fights and is victorious only by using the scriptures as his weapon.
The Savior was to be tempted. It is one of the mysteries of God’s power and grace that he really was tempted, and that only by the might of the scripture was he enabled to guard his perfect purity and obedience. Here we hold fast in faith these truths, which our poor reason is unable to reconcile, that the devil is indeed permitted to draw and entice Jesus, while at the same time he is not able to kindle in him a single evil inclination. — The strong cravings of hunger in his pure human nature are made use of by the tempter, who seeks to accomplish his downfall by storming him with thoughts of doubt and defiance of every sort. “Art thou the Son of God? Is this the manner in which a father deals with his son? Is it not written that thou shouldst make the desert to blossom? (Isaiah 35, 1). Shall the Son of God hunger and thirst? (49, 10). Prove to all angels that God is with his only begotten Son, and has given his glory to man.” But the Lord is to atone for our sin by suffering the pangs of hunger, and he is victorious by means of the scriptures. — In the second temptation, in which the devil also employs the word of God, — after his own peculiar fashion, of course, — he strives to find a way to the heart of the Lord through his holy desire to glorify the Father. “Reveal thyself to Jerusalem. In thee shall be fulfilled also that word of God which says that the hands of angels shall bear thee up; and then thou shalt at once sit upon the throne of David, and Israel shall praise God.” Such thoughts as these laid siege to his soul, and the deceiver employs all his craft and cunning in order to entice him, by means of the scriptures, to desert the scriptures. But the scriptures interpret themselves; and thereby the Lord obtains the victory, and goes forward on the path of humility. — Then the foul fiend seeks to make a snare for the Lord out of his strong and loving desire to rule over all creatures in order to save them. In a moment all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them are presented to his view, and the tempter says: “The right which I have to these things, since man obeyed me, I give to thee; do thou but kneel once to me, and all is thine.” The shameless audacity and cunning of the devil is truly terrible. This bargain which he proposes seems to give Jesus everything, but would, in fact, have placed him and everything under the supremacy of the devil. But see, how the arch liar collides with the scriptures at every point, and how he goes down before it every time. “Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” — Thus Jesus continues steadfast in his obedience, suffering, and fear of God.
Adam was tempted and fell; abandoned the word of God; believed the liar; and was caught in the toils of unbelief, carnal lust, and pride. In him we all fell and became subjects of the devil. Christ holds on to the word of God; continues in faith, truth, and holiness, and delivers us from the devil. For us he fought and won. His victory is your victory, if you believe in him; and he has also won for you the power and grace to do this. Not the devil, but Jesus, is your master. Yet shall you also be tempted; by this very means you shall put on the strength of Christ, his faith, his obedience, his self-denial. Every child of God is led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Then he assails you with dark doubt concerning God’s goodness and fatherly care, and concerning your election and adoption and estate of grace; and then he sets for your feet the snares of unrighteousness and sensuality and greed. You are tempted to follow after fleeting honor, to go ways of your own choosing for the purpose of advancing God’s cause, to buy imaginary spiritual benefits at the cost of truth; and who shall enumerate all the pitfalls and all the decoys which the tempter prepares for God’s children? But in all these things his purpose is to lure your heart away from the word into a feeling of security, or into despondency; into “unbelief and despair and other vices.” In the soul of the Savior there was nothing to which the tempter could fasten; no unclean desire of any sort stirred in the Holy One, though his struggle with the tempter was more violent than any of which we can conceive. In us, on the other hand, how many things are there not which give the tempter a vantage ground! And yet, my dear troubled brother, he shall be put to shame; he is vanquished. You shall be tempted, but you shall also be victorious. He who conquered for you shall also conquer in you; by means of the scripture you shall escape defeat. You shall be horribly tempted to desert the word of God; but you shall receive grace to abide by it, and to remain in faith and patience on the way of suffering together with our Lord Jesus. Never, while you are on earth, will the devil desist from tempting you to pride and unbelief, to disobedience and to that sort of Christianity which consists in the desire to enjoy the luxury of one’s own feelings. Never, while you are in the flesh, shall you be entirely free of these odious things; but neither shall the Spirit of God ever cease to teach you humility, obedience in faith, and joy in suffering.
Thanks for thy temptation and thy victory, Lord Jesus. Spare us, O God, from temptations; for we are very weak. But if we must be tempted, give us victory; grant that we may overcome, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
When temptation sorely presses,
In the day of Satan’s power,
In our times of deep distresses,
In each dark and trying hour,
By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!
When the world around is smiling,
In the time of wealth and ease,
Earthly joys our hearts beguiling,
In the day of health and peace,
By thy mercy, O deliver us, good Lord!
125. First Sunday in Lent. II.
Lord, our God, let the power of thy grace be made manifest in us through all manner of heavenly virtues. Amen.
Epistle Lesson, 2 Corinthians 6, 1-10. We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
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In the lives of the apostles we see clearly reflected the sufferings and the patience of Christ. Afflictions and necessities and distresses and stripes, labors and watchings and fastings, dishonor and evil report, misjudgment, poverty, pain, death, — these were the portion of Jesus; and the same spectacle is presented to us in the lives of his apostles. Are, then, distress and suffering the portion of the saints of God only? No; “Suffering we see, to be sure, everywhere on earth; but the suffering of Jesus is seen nowhere else in the same degree; it is only in his servants that we have anything at all like it.” Patience, pureness, longsuffering, kindness, unfeigned love, and the like, — these constitute the manner of Christ’s suffering, his holy style of warfare. In all things the same ministering, self-sacrificing love; in all things the same spirit, and the same object in view; namely, our welfare, our salvation. And the same is true of the apostles in their imitation of his holy example. What a shining example for us to follow; but, alas, how it must also put us to shame! To be sure, we are not called to be apostles, but all Christians are called to be the servants of Christ; and Paul exhorts us in this wise: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.” Is it not to be feared, alas, that too many who call themselves Christians have “received the grace of God in vain”? “Received the grace of God” — and yet have done it “in vain”! What a remarkable and impressive statement! Does it not mean that too many have, after receiving the grace of God, accepted the offer of the tempter to effect a compromise? Or are we mistaken? Are there perhaps many who with the apostles walk in the footsteps of Christ? Alas, how few are they whom this description fits: “By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.” But these are the weapons with which one must be armed, if he is to stand against the wiles of the devil. It is absolutely necessary for us to be thus armed; else we shall succumb, beyond any doubt. And then, what shall the end be? For Jesus’ sake, therefore, put on his armor, ye soldiers of the Lord!
Lord God, make us to be true Christians, and let thy strength be perfected in us. Let it be apparent in our whole walk that we are thy disciples; make all the world to know that thou hast a holy people on earth, who are able to labor and suffer and conquer by thy strength. Teach us also to “drink of the brook in the way, and lift up the head.” Amen.
Give us faith that keeps the way
Till life’s last hour is fled,
And with a pure and heavenly ray
Lights up a dying bed.
Lord, give us such a faith as this,
And then, whate’er may come,
We’ll taste, e’en here, the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.